Back in March 2010, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) responded to the use of violent imagery and heated political rhetoric from conservative activists — mentioning Sarah Palin’s use of crosshairs on a map over Democratic-held districts such as hers. At the time, Giffords said that people should realize such rhetoric has consequences.
Giffords was shot today at a meet-and-greet with constituents in Tucson.
In March, Giffords appeared on MSNBC to talk about the then-recent vandalism of her office, which followed her vote for health care reform. During the interview, she said that political leaders had a responsibility to say they would not stand for violence.
[TPM SLIDESHOW: Dem Rep. Gabrielle Giffords Shot In Arizona]
I mean, this is a situation where — I mean, people don’t — they really need to realize that the rhetoric and firing people up and, you know, even things, for example, we’re on Sarah Palin’s targeted list. But the thing is that the way that she has it depicted has the crosshairs of a gunsight over our district.
When people do that, they’ve gotta realize there’s consequences to that action.
